


Four times any reasonable person would assume Kara and Alex were a couple and one time a completely unreasonable one did

by outlier



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-03
Updated: 2017-05-03
Packaged: 2018-10-27 20:11:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,115
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10815876
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/outlier/pseuds/outlier
Summary: Given available data, the logical assumption would be that Kara and Alex were together. Like, girlfriends together.





	1. Supergirl Sings the Blues

**Author's Note:**

> I've never written one of those 5 times fics before. I also rarely write anything not centered on smut. It's uncertain times for all of us, then, as neither of these are my forte.
> 
> Also, I willfully ignored the show's timeline and instead pulled broadly from the canon in a way that suited me. I would consider this happening in a world where Alex and Maggie remain friends. Not because I don't love Alex and Maggie, because I do, but because I don't have to create a rift between them this way.

Alex answered her phone on autopilot.

“Danvers.”

“Um, Alex? This is Winn? Winn Schott Jr.? We ate Thanksgiving dinner together? Or kind of ate it, or whatever.”

She didn’t need anything else to know that her peaceful evening of examining and cataloguing specimens was going to have to wait.

“How did you get this number?”

“Oh, uh, in a way that was only vaguely unethical but probably not illegal?” Winn offered, and Alex could hear the wince in his voice. “Kara’s password isn’t that hard to figure out, and she has you in her contacts under Alex rainbow emoji unicorn emoji heart emoji heart emoji, so that wasn’t really hard to figure out either?”

Alex could feel a headache threatening.

“Fair enough. _Why_ are you using this number?”

Winn took a deep, fortifying breath. “You need to come get Kara.”

“Why, and from where?” Alex asked, already storing her samples and searching her memory for just where she’d left her keys.

“She was kind of mopey, so I talked her into coming out with me. We’re at the bar. You know, _the_ bar. The one with the high tolerance for people who aren’t terrestrials?”

As if to underscore Winn’s already thorough explanation, the clatter of what she presumed to be a door opening was followed by a burst of music that soon faded. “Yeah, I know the place. That still doesn’t tell me the why.”

“Yeah, that. There was some kind of drink? I didn’t question it, but maybe I should have because Kara really, really doesn’t know how to handle her liquor.”

She wasn’t dressed for rescuing a drunk alien from a bar, still in the black pullover, BDUs, and boots she wore in the course of day-to-day life at the DEO. Then again, maybe she was.

“Details, Winn. I need details.”

From the way his voice lowered to a conspiratorial whisper, Alex could picture the way he was hunched over the phone. “She’s singing karaoke and crying. Just a little. But singing through it,” he rushed to reassure. “She’s actually really good. I had no idea.”

Alex sighed and pulled the phone away from her ear long enough to pull on her seatbelt.

“What’s she singing?”

“Uh, Rihanna. Umbrella.”

Alex groaned. “ _Shit_. Okay, I’ll be there soon.”

When Alex walked through the door, Kara was finishing up the final verse of ‘Mad World’. The sad one, from Donnie Darko.

She was no longer the only one crying.

“Alex!” Winn shot to her side, not even bothering to hide the fact that he was wiping away tears. “Oh, thank god. I think she’s going to do Adele next, and no one’s ready for that.”

Onstage, in her baby blue cardigan, coordinating blue and white striped button down, and gray wool skirt, Kara looked like the saddest, preppiest lounge singer Alex had ever seen. Her hair was starting to come down from its ponytail and her glasses had slipped halfway down her nose.

The opening strains of ‘Someone Like You’ started to play, jolting Alex into motion.

“Please, no,” Winn whimpered in the background.

Squaring her shoulders, Alex marched across the floor, weaving through tables and inebriated patrons until she was standing in front of the stage.

Kara sniffed and pushed her glasses up, blinking at Alex as if unsure if she was really there. “Alex?”

Alex gave a little wave. “Hey. What’s with the drunken singing?”

When Kara’s face scrunched up and her eyes began to glisten with tears again, Alex felt her heart race with panic. “No, no, no, no, no,” she murmured.

“I was so mean to you, Alex,” Kara said, the words echoing around the bar with a little help from the mic. Someone, and Alex was seriously considering shooting them when she sussed out who it was, helpfully turned down the music. “I said all those awful things.”

“It wasn’t your fault,” Alex said, surprised the words were audible through her gritted teeth.

Behind her, she heard people shift forward in their chairs.

“Why would I be mean to you?” Kara keened, lip quivering. “Why would anyone? You’re so smart and so beautiful and you take such good care of me. You’re… you’re perfect, Alex.  You’re a perfect, cuddly, angry, beautiful person who is perfect, and I’m going to spend the rest of my life making it up to you.”

Alex’s skin was burning, so thorough was her blush.

“You’re forgiven, okay,” she said, unable to do anything else in the face of the way Kara was looking at her, eyes big and blue and watery with tears.

Kara wiped messily at her tears. “I love you, Alex.”

Alex sighed and resolved to pretend that she wasn’t currently being watched by a bar full of enraptured patrons. She lifted her arm up, extended her hand, and smiled reassuringly. “I love you, too. Come down, Kara. Let me take you home.”

Wordlessly, Kara dropped the mic and hurled herself off of the stage and into Alex’s arms. Alex staggered back a step with the force of it but caught herself, wrapping her arms around Kara and squeezing tight. Kara buried her face in Alex’s neck, one hand flat on Alex’s back and the other on the back of her neck, holding Alex close.

Behind them, the bar burst into applause.

Alex resisted the urge to give them all the finger. Barely.


	2. In the Workplace

“Are they always like that?”

Since she hadn’t been asking anyone but the universe at large, Maggie hadn’t really expected a reply. 

“Yeah.” She looked over to find a DEO agent, dressed from head to toe in black, including a helmet, standing beside her. “It’s kind of ridiculous.”

Maggie had to agree. Sure, the fight had been a bit more harrowing than most, with Supergirl hitting the ground pretty hard a couple of times, but she’d triumphed in the end. Like always. And sure, maybe her suit was a little rumpled, but that was no reason for the otherwise badass Agent Danvers to run to her like that as soon as Supergirl landed. It wasn’t even a badass sprint. It was a full-on girly run, with her arms almost windmilling.

“I mean,” the agent continued, holstering his gun, “she’s Supergirl. She’s indestructible.”

Maggie nodded. It _was_ a little odd, the way Agent Danvers and Supergirl were clinging to one another as if they’d been separated for years.

“One time, at one of the interdepartmental softball games, Agent Danvers twisted her ankle rounding third. The next thing you know, Supergirl was there, scooping her up in her arms and flying her back to Medical for a check-up.”

“No shit?”

The masked Agent’s scowl was evident in his voice. “That’s nothing,” he scoffed. “You should see her when Agent Danvers actually gets hurt. She took a bullet this one time – a flesh wound, really. Just barely skimmed her. Next thing you know, Supergirl’s storming through the command room shouting ‘Where’s my Alex?’ like Agent Danvers was gut shot or something.”

Maggie snorted. “Sounds dramatic.”

“Why do all the superheroes come with romantic baggage?” The Agent beside her shifted and reached up to tug on his bulletproof vest, wiggling his shoulders as if to settle it into a position that was less chafing. “Superman and Lois Lane. Batman and Catwoman. That elastic guy and his girl. Sue, or whatever.”

And now Danvers was gripping Supergirl by the biceps as Supergirl cupped Danvers’ elbows, with their faces tilted toward one another. Danvers was talking and Supergirl was looking abashed, and it was honestly the kind of thing that should have been saved for a private moment, probably.

“Is she chastising Supergirl?” Maggie asked incredulously.

“Uh.” The agent sounded disgusted in the way people who had just had enough of the cuteness would if forced to watch puppies licking ice cream cones. “They should call her Superwhipped instead.”

Supergirl cupped Danvers’ cheek, and the supposedly hardass Agent _melted_ into the touch.

“Which one?”

“They hold hands at work sometimes,” the agent said, voice low, as if sharing a terrible secret. “Shit, are they hugging again? Tell me they’re not.”

Maggie shrugged. “Sorry, buddy.”

From what she could tell, Supergirl looked to be whispering something in the Agent’s ear. When they pulled apart, Danvers nodded solemnly and Supergirl smiled at her like she was literally the most precious thing in the universe.

Yeah, she wasn’t letting Danvers live this one down. No way.

“Hey Superwhipped,” she called out gleefully, “want to give me a rundown on what happened here?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> She really meant to say, "Where's my sister?" That she didn't was a win in the 'keeping my identity a secret' game.


	3. Spur of the Moment

Lucy wasn’t expecting Kara Danvers to open her apartment door in a pair of boxers and a faded and worn Stanford tee shirt, toothbrush hanging from her mouth.

“Hey!” Kara said brightly, as if it wasn’t at all odd to have the girlfriend of the guy she was, as far as anyone with eyes could tell, not so subtly crushing on appear at her doorstep. “Lucy, what are you doing here?”

It was a good question, and one Lucy didn’t exactly know how to answer. She’d had some vague notion of having a heart-to-heart about not making lovestruck faces at James, at least when Lucy was in the room, but hadn’t really worked out the particulars. It’d been a spur of the moment kind of decision. Lucy hated spur of the moment kinds of decisions, and hated the fact that she’d made this one.

She was saved from answering by a muffled shout from deep in the apartment.

“Kara, I need help.”

Kara smiled apologetically. “It’s just Alex,” she said, and shrugged. “I always tell her to wait a little while after her shower before putting on her sports bra. You’re just going to get all caught up, you know?” Kara shook her head fondly. “But, we’re both running late this morning, so…”

“Kara!”

“Can you hold on a minute?” Kara asked Lucy, shaking her head affectionately. “She’s going to say it’s my fault, but she wanted to stay in bed as much as I did. We kind of had an exhausting night. And, I got ice cream all over the sheets. Alex _hates_ being sticky, so we had to change them. Of course, it was her idea to take it to bed with us, but will she remember that part? Nope.”

“Take your time,” Lucy found herself saying to Kara’s back.

There were murmurs and thumps from the back, as Lucy waited uneasily outside of Kara’s door. She hadn’t been invited in, exactly, and she certainly wasn’t going to invite herself in. Not when she’d come with nebulous yet probably antagonistic motives.

When Kara reappeared, it was alongside a woman dressed all in black, with dark reddish hair cut sharp at her chin. Lucy knew that outfit, and knew that hair.

“Lane,” Alex Danvers said guardedly.

“Oh, yeah,” Kara said brightly, reaching over to straighten Alex’s collar. “Lucy stopped by.”

Lucy smiled, suddenly much less worried about Kara and any possible faces she might be making at James – not with the way Kara was beaming at the taciturn Alex. “Agent Danvers.”

“That’s right! You guys know each other,” Kara said, smiling now at Lucy, though the wattage dimmed whenever she was focused on anything that wasn’t Alex. “Alex told me she’d met you, and I told her you work at CatCo now. Small world, right?”

“Small world,” Alex said, a dangerous edge to her voice that seemed to be amplified by its contrast to the sunbeam standing beside her.

“Hey,” Kara said, catching Alex by her arm as Alex made to leave, “I made you lunch. Eat it this time, okay?”

A brown paper bag appeared in Kara’s hand; Alex took it grudgingly.

“I mean it, Alex,” Kara said, with her version of a steely look. It lasted maybe 5 seconds before she cracked into a smile again, leaning over to give Alex a kiss on the cheek.

Alex was adorably disgruntled in reply. “Fine,” she grumbled, shouldering her way past Lucy. It would have made for a spectacularly grumpy exit had Alex not paused at the doorway, a light flush on her cheeks. “Have a good day, okay? I’ll see you tonight.”

Lucy would have bet money that Kara’s beaming smile couldn’t have gotten any beamier, but she’d have lost.

“Have fun storming the castle,” Kara called after Alex, who was halfway down the hall on her way to the elevator.

Alex didn’t turn, but she did lift her hand in a wave.

Was she limping? Lucy narrowed her eyes and frowned in concentration. Yep, there was definitely a slight limp situation happening.

“Sorry about that,” Kara said, suddenly appearing beside Lucy, both of them watching Alex trundle off to work. “What did you need?”

Lucy grinned, repressing the sudden urge to give Kara a high five. “You know what, stud muffin? It can wait. Want to get breakfast?”

Kara looked at her like she was crazy. “Uh, yes. All the time. Who doesn’t want to get breakfast? Give me 10 minutes, and I’ll take you to this place that has the best sticky buns in the whole city. You’ll love it.”

For some reason, Lucy believed her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Had he not been a wishy-washy wannabe two-timer, I could have been down with James and Lucy.


	4. Game Night Knife Fight

Lucy had said they were “so banging”, but James just couldn’t wrap his head around it. Kara and Alex? Nah.

“They’re sisters,” he’d protested, and all Lucy had done was roll her eyes.

“Foster sisters who bang.”

Sweet, adorable, sunshine personified Kara with dour, stern, grumbly Alex? Even if there hadn’t been complicating family dynamics at play, he just didn’t see it.

“Watch them,” Lucy advised sagely. “You’ll see.”

So he talked Kara into bringing Alex to game night foursome, just so he could prove Lucy wrong.

It wasn’t going spectacularly, but he felt there was still room to quibble.

“I’m not wearing it,” Alex said, snuggling into Kara’s side and snagging a piece of popcorn from the bowl in Kara’s lap. “No way.”

“Alex,” Kara said, throwing both a pout and a whine in Alex’s direction and sliding her hand down Alex’s arm from where it was slung over her shoulder. “Please? It’ll be perfect.”

“Nope.”

Kara sighed. “You totally have the body for it.”

The muffled cough Lucy gave to underscore the discussion playing out in his living room was absolutely not needed.

“So do you,” Alex pointed out, reaching up to tangle her fingers with Kara’s in a move that seemed unconscious. “Besides, if anyone should be The Punisher, it’s me. It’s pretty much my everyday look anyway.”

Kara shook her head with heartfelt alacrity. “Already called it.”

“Kara, honestly…”

Faster than the eye could track, Kara’s hand was over Alex’s mouth, muffling her words. “Winn’s already started making the costume,” Kara said, the seriousness of her expression at odds with the frivolity of the argument. “And I gave him your measurements, so he’s already started working on Elektra for you. You can’t back out of it now.”

Alex pushed Kara’s hand away with a huff. “He can be Elektra. I’ll be Daredevil.”

For a moment, Kara seemed intrigued. “I promised him I’d let him be Daredevil,” she said apologetically a moment later, “and I really, really want to be the Punisher.”

“So who’s ready for Exploding Kittens?” James called out a bit too loudly, entirely unnerved by the way Kara was looking at Alex. It was imploring, but also something more? Maybe like the way he looked at Lucy when he was trying to get her to agree that he didn’t need to go to dinner with her father? And maybe Alex was looking back at Kara the same way Lucy did when she put the kibosh on his dreams of an evening free of paternal disapproval?

Alex rolled her eyes affectionately when Kara won the first game and did the equivalent of an end zone touchdown dance. She smiled indulgently when Kara won the second game, and her touchdown dance grew more elaborate. Alex, who was so competitive that both James and Kara slunk away to the kitchen to escape from the tension when she and Lucy ended up the sole survivors in a cutthroat game of Monopoly that looked like it might actually be settled with a knife fight.

“Those soldier ladies, am I right?” Kara commiserated with him, giving him a gentle elbow to the ribs. “It’s all fun and games until the bloodshed starts, and then they probably think it’s even more fun.”

He would have taken it as the perfect opening for a little prying to prove his theory correct had Kara not squealed “Olives!” and shifted her focus to the table full of snacks.

When he closed the door behind them an hour later, Kara dragging Alex behind her and monologuing about post-victory pizza, James remained hesitantly steadfast.

“Kara practically gave her Illinois Avenue,” Lucy muttered from behind him, and James squared his shoulders and mustered his courage. “Everybody knows it’s the most valuable property on the board.”

To his knowledge, Lucy had never, ever, ever in her life lost at Monopoly before.

“Collusion,” he agreed, because sometimes, he wasn’t stupid.

“I didn’t take into account the PhD side of her,” Lucy continued, brows furrowed. “I went at it the wrong way. I formulated an attack to take out Agent Danvers, not Dr. Danvers.”

James pulled her into a hug. “You’ll get her next time, baby.”

“Damn right I will.” Lucy let herself be comforted by the way James was pressing kisses against her forehead. “Anyway, you see what I mean now, right?”

Even though his mind was screaming _Danger!_ , the best James could muster was a shrug.

“I don’t know, Lucy.”

Lucy wriggled out of his hold and glared up at him. “You don’t know? Kara spent half the evening practically sitting in Alex’s lap.”

They had seemed incredibly comfortable with close physical proximity, James had to admit. “True, but…”

“But what? Kara has Dr. Badass FBI Agent wrapped around her little finger.”

“I wouldn’t go that far.”

“No?” Lucy’s eyes took on a predatory gleam. “Care to put your money where your mouth is, because I’m willing to bet she does.”

James felt his own competitive spirit poke its head out. “What’s your wager?”

“How about this - if Alex wears that Elektra costume to the Catco Halloween party, you’ll do the laundry _and_ the dishes for a month.”

James smirked. “It’s going to hurt my heart to see you doing all those dishes all by yourself,” he teased.

In retrospect, he should have kept the taunting to a minimum.

“Domestic is a good look on you,” Lucy said, dropping a plate into the already full sink and giving him a firm slap on the ass. “I’ll be in the bedroom when you’re finished.”

Not that there weren’t unexpected benefits, he supposed.

“Shouldn’t count,” he called after her teasingly, dunking the sponge in the sink again. “I thought she’d have to do the comic book version!”

A laugh floated out of their bedroom. “Don’t be a sore loser.”

And really, he wasn’t. Mostly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Even though Kara doesn't agree with his methods, she can still appreciate living vicariously through a character who avenges the death of his loved ones.


	5. A Wee Family Tiff

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We'll just retcon Astra's unfortunate demise.

Alex had told everyone that Astra was sneaky as hell, but did they listen? Well, they did, but they still let her into the DEO’s ranks on a trial basis after she’d shown sufficient evidence of reform.

Not that that helped Alex escape from the holding cell Astra had thrown her into.

“You want to tell me what this is all about?” Alex asked, when it seemed like Astra’s sole plan was to glare at her intimidatingly.

Astra’s unnerving cat eyes never left her. “I want to know your plans, Alexandra Danvers.”

“For lunch?” Alex crossed her arms over her chest, doing her best to return Astra’s glare. “I was thinking a sandwich.”

Astra’s expression hardened. “I have no time for your word games, little human,” she said, eyes flashing dangerously. “Tell me what your intentions are with my niece.”

For the first time since she’d been unceremoniously hauled into the holding cell, Alex faltered. “I beg your pardon?”

“You should,” Astra hissed. “Or do you forget that I can see through walls, Alexandra Danvers? Do you forget that I can hear the sound of my niece’s name being screamed out from miles away? Do you think I would not rush to save her, when clearly she was in danger?”

Alex paled.

“I am glad to see you will spare me the indignity of denials.”

“Shit,” Alex muttered, bringing a hand up to cover her face. “Astra, you have to understand, this is all new…”

“You share the intimacies of the bonded,” Astra interrupted, uninterested in equivocations. “She has bedded you as she would have a mate.”

Alex groaned.

“As you have her.”

“Just how long did you watch?” Alex asked weakly, feeling her blush in the tips of her ears.

“I did not watch.” Astra’s lips twisted into a sneer. “But the sound carried farther than I would have liked.”

Alex realized she had grossly underestimated what true mortification would feel like.

“So tell me, Alexandra Danvers, is it your intention to – how do your people say it? _Toy with_ the last daughter of the great and mighty House of El?”

Alex’s answer, whatever it might have been, was lost in the sound of the door to the holding cells flying off its hinges.

“Aunt Astra!” Kara cried out, rushing to put herself between her aunt and the cell where Alex had been momentarily imprisoned. “What are you doing?”

“I am doing what your mother would wish me to do,” Astra said hotly, a look eerily similar to maternal challenge in her eyes. “I am making sure that her daughter is being treated with the care and respect she deserves.”

“She did a fly-by last night,” Alex chipped in, her voice resigned. “She, uh, knows.”

It was Kara’s turn to pale. “Oh, Rao.”

Astra crossed her arms over her chest. “Yes, his name has received much praise lately.”

“Aunt Astra!” Kara’s eyes widened in horror. She looked to Alex for help and received only a shrug in reply before Alex pointed to the locked door as an excuse.

“I merely wish to know when the human will make an honest woman of you. That is what they say here, is it not?”

“You can’t just say things like that,” Kara spluttered. “And Earth isn’t like Krypton. You know that. People aren’t as uptight about these kinds of things here.”

Astra took a menacing step forward. “I am aware of the many dalliances in which humans engage. Their physical desires make them fickle and untrustworthy.”

“Hey now,” Alex protested.

Kara brought a hand to her forehead. “Can you just chill, Aunt Astra? Please?”

“Though perhaps you have chosen not to bond with a human,” Astra continued, momentarily contemplative. “They are fragile creatures and break easily. It would be easier to simply take your pleasure without growing attached, just in case.”

“Wow,” Alex said, planting her hands on her hips. “Not cool.”

Astra ignored her in favor of Kara. “Perhaps you should talk to Kal-El. In many matters he knows little more than any other off-worlder, but he has managed to keep his human alive and intact."

Kara looked up at Astra with a pleading expression. “You’re seriously embarrassing me right now, Aunt Astra.”

“Ladies.” J’onn’s hulking figure appeared in the doorway. He took in the situation with a slow scan of the room, face expressionless, then reached over to key in the sequence that would unlock the holding cell. “Should I be worried?”

“Nope!” Kara said hurriedly, with far more peppy enthusiasm than a stand-off warranted. “Just a little family meeting.

Alex stepped out of the holding cell with a huff. “Yeah,” she grumbled, glaring at Astra. “That.”

Although there was precious little time to get in the last word before Kara wrapped an arm around Alex and escorted her from the room at slightly above a human appropriate pace, Astra still managed. “Do not think this conversation is over,” she called out after the retreating duo. “We will continue it over brunch on Saturday.”

For a moment, the room was silent. Then, looking entirely too pleased with herself, Astra turned her attention to J’onn. “What say you, Martian?”

J’onn sighed. “Couldn’t you just have told them that you know and that you wish them well?”

“But where is the fun in that?” Astra smiled wickedly. “The Brave One should be reminded that I am one to fear. I am merely cultivating in her a healthy respect for her future in-law.”

“You may be getting ahead of yourself there.”

“Unlikely.”

Even given his own cautious nature, J’onn was inclined to agree.

“And with any luck,” Astra continued nonchalantly, giving J’onn a mischievous look, “they will invest in decent soundproofing.”

He could only laugh.


End file.
